In 2011, Kim received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to research, perform, and record Wai, a collection of Hawaiian songs on the theme of fresh water. She received a McKnight Performing Artist Fellowship finalist award in 2007 and a Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Community Partnership grant for research and performance in Hawaiian music in 2005.

Originally from Koloa, Kaua‘i, she presently resides in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she has developed great respect for snow shovels and mittens. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at the University of Evansville under the instruction of Joseph Hopkins, and a Master of Music degree at the University of Minnesota, where she studied with Lawrence Weller. She has studied Hawaiian chant and hula with Amy Ku‘uleialoha Stillman and the late Kumu Pohaku Nishimitsu. Kim is a former musician and teaching artist with The Rose Ensemble.

Maintaining a full private lesson studio of guitar, bass, banjo, and mandolin students, he also conducts ukulele workshops and has written instructional columns for Guitar Player magazine and TrueFire.com. He has composed and arranged music for Mixed Blood Theatre and for a number of commercials, movies and television programs.

Rahn Yanes – Bass • Vocals
Playing bass since age 11, classically-trained Rahn Yanes has had the opportunity to explore a wide range of musical genres and styles. As a symphony bassist, Rahn got his first job at age 16 with the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra, and played up and down the San Joaquin Valley of California for 5 years before moving to Monterey and playing up and down the Central Coast for 5 more years. Rahn then moved to Mexico City, where he played for 3 years with Mexico’s National Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Bass, performing for numerous national tours, festivals and television broadcasts.

Shahzore Shah – Vocals
Shahzore Shah, a tenor with the vocal ensemble, Cantus, has always enjoyed learning and performing a wide variety of genres as a soloist and ensemble singer. He finds new music and fusing music from different traditions especially meaningful. He holds degrees in vocal performance, music education and French from Lawrence University and Conservatory of Music.

In the summers of 1999 and 2000, Shahzore volunteered at the École Ste. Trinité (Holy Trinity School) in Port-au-Prince and Léogane, Haiti. As a teacher and performer there, he solidified his interest in making music as often as possible. He also taught in public schools in the midwest and sang freelance in New York before moving back to the Twin Cities in 2005 to perform with Cantus.

Shahzore’s interest in performing Hawaiian music began when he received coaching from Kim Sueoka in 2006 for a piece Cantus performed. He is thrilled to be singing more of that repertoire now, especially with the talented musicians of the Lau Hawaiian Collective. At home, you will likely find Shahzore gardening or cooking, as he is always on the lookout for delicious food.